Investors clearly believed the worst--that the problems impacting media comapnies were going to continue to plague the Disney. FBR analysts Barton Crockett and Zack Silver contend it was about Hurricane Irma. They explain why:

We update estimates to factor in Disney CEO Bob Iger's statement at an investor conference Sept. 7 that Disney's EPS was likely to be comparable in F2017 to F2016, a step down from former guidance for "modest growth." Disney's stock dipped on the comments, along with the media group. But we read the reduced EPS outlook as mainly due to Hurricane Irma, meaning the EPS trim should largely come back in F2018. We didn't see Iger raising any new secular concerns, although another presenter, Comcast (CMCSA), raised a form of secular concern with disclosure of expectations for up to 150,000 video sub losses in the Sept. quarter, due, in part to competition from skinny bundle SVOD services. But competition of this sort isn't necessarily negative for Disney (or CBS (CBS), 21st Century Fox (FOXA), Tegna (TGNA) and TV stations), since they are largely in the online skinny bundles. So the negative reaction seems more like skittish sentiment, than anything more fundamental.

Shares of Walt Disney have dipped 0.1% to $97 at 1:21 p.m. today, while Comcast has dropped 2.4% to $37.68, CBS has slumped 2.3% to $59.08, 21st Century Fox has declined 0.5% to $25.65, and Tegna is off 3.2% at $12.05.

Most Popular today

Disney: Blame Irma?

Yesterday, shares of Walt Disney (DIS) tumbled after CEO Bob Iger said that the media giant would earn in 2017 about what it did in 2016.

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.